GEORGIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE AND SECURITY: AN OVERVIEW

Georgian Intelligence Community in the form it exists nowadays is quite young institutional body. During years it faced lots of reforms and changes. As accepted by many scholars historical legacies are often reflected in the institutional mentalities and daily operations of the services. This should also be taken into consideration when talking about Georgian Intelligence Community.... Read more

CRITICAL SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN SECURITY STRUCTURES OF ASIA AND EUROPE

Prof. Anis H. Bajrektarevic (Chairman of the Intl. Law & Global Pol. Studies and the author of the forthcoming book ‘Is there life after Facebook’, Addleton Academic Publishers, NY & RIEAS Member of International Advisory Board)

How to draw the line between the recent and still unsettled EU/EURO crisis and Asia’s success story? Well, it might be easier than it seems: Neither Europe nor Asia has any alternative. The difference is that Europe well knows there is no alternative – and therefore is multilateral. Asia thinks it has an alternative – and therefore is strikingly bilateral, while stubbornly residing enveloped in economic egoisms. No wonder that Europe is/will be able to manage its decline, while Asia is (still) unable to capitalise its successes….. Read more

DEFINING NATIONAL SECURITY OF UKRAINE

New National Security Strategy of Ukraine was adopted in 2012 being a result of the change in the internal politics of Ukraine. De facto today Ukrainian national security is defined by several documents – National Security Strategy, Law on Basics of Domestic and Foreign Policy of Ukraine and Military Doctrine of Ukraine. Moreover, such official documents as Strategy of the Peacekeeping Activity of Ukraine can also be added to this list.

Note: This article is an excerpt from the key-note address: ‘Future of the EURO-MED and OSCE’ to be presented at the Crans Montana Forum, in March 2013 in Paris, France

Let’s get Sy(i)ria-ous: Where is the counter-narrative?

The MENA theatre is situated in one of the most fascinating locations of the world. It actually represents (along with the Balkans-Caucasus) the only existing land corridor that connects three continents. It also holds over a half of the world’s proven oil-gas reserves (56% – oil, 48% – gas). Further on, the Gulf OPEC states and Libya have –by far– the lowest costs of oil extraction thanks to the high crude ‘purity’ (measured by overall properties such as a state of aggregation, excavation gravity, viscosity, weight, degree of sulfuric and other contaminants) which is simplifying and cheapening the refinement process.

PAKISTAN AT THE CROSS-ROADS: ANALYSIS OF THE DOMESTIC POLITICAL SITUATION

Pakistan is facing acute instability because of bad governance and political turmoil. It is faced with complex multiple challenges not easily surmounted. Pakistan has suffered from long spells of military rule and there were many hopes pinned on the Zardari Government which came into power in early 2008. But the historic transformation from military to civilian rule isn’t looking promising.

Pakistan’s fragile democracy is simply not delivering, at least as per public expectations. The parliament’s performance is poor and it has been reduced to a rubber stamp only. Meanwhile, the military advances its nuclear capabilities with great zeal. Undoubtedly, Pakistan has an awesome nuclear capability which is growing at an ever fast rate. Given Pakistan’s other failures, this is indeed ironic.

The perfect example of fusion between religion and politics can be found in the Islamic Republic of Iran. As opposed to a democracy, the theocracy ruling Iran offers serious scholars a clearer understanding of how ideology drives national strategy. As with any motivated country seeking to exert influence beyond its borders, intelligence continues to play a prominent role in bringing these aims to fruition..... Read more

As we approach mid-2012, Azerbaijan’s purchase of $1.6 billion in military hardware from Israel appears more rooted in speculation about thwarting Iran’s nuclear aspirations than the decision process that went into buying them. Anytime a government spends a quarter of its annual revenue on weapons, there is more at stake than a singular, emerging security issue in an otherwise tough neighborhood. 1 Despite the best efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group and the Madrid Principles, little has changed for Nagorno-Karabakh since the 1994 ceasefire.2 With accusations of ceasefire violations going back and forth between the Armenian and Azeri parties3 more can be done by the international community given this recent escalation of tensions. By more, I mean the right kind of assistance. To the parties involved Nagorno-Karabakh is many things but what it is not is ‘frozen.’4 Rather than accept the status quo of stalemate, this requires a re-examination of the traditional barriers to resolution as well as examining the normative structure of Conflict Resolution as it relates to Nagorno-Karabakh..... Read more